Entain has unveiled the completion of the initial stages of its ‘Advanced Protection and Care’ programme, stressing that it has “significantly extended behavioural indicators used to identify players potentially at risk”.
The group says that the programme will trial new risk-identification markers, such as additional checks on fluctuations in stake, erratic play during a single session and signs that a player might be chasing losses.
This is an enhancement of the approach to customer monitoring the operator has pursued since 2018, utilising protection markers based on frequency of play, length of time of online play and changes in spending habits.
As well as extending the behavioural indicators used to identify potentially at risk players, Entain is now developing models using more than three times the previous number.
“ARC is fundamental to our future strategy for sustainability and growth,” said Jette Nygaard-Andersen, chief executive of Entain.
“We are putting customers first, both by prioritising their safety through our use of technology to limit individual exposure to risk, whilst also enhancing their experience across all our brands.
“We will do this not only in our traditional markets of sports betting and gaming, but also as we grow into new areas, like video gaming and esports as a global entertainment company.”
Entain’s data scientists are in the process of building models to test the extended range of behavioural indicators in real situations, seeking to identify those exhibiting signs of problem gambling as well as those demonstrating indicators of potential risk.
The operator believes that the introduction of ARC will “revolutionise conventional thinking around responsible gambling” via the provision of “unprecedented safeguards for customers”.
In addition, the company hopes to offer all customers a personalised playing experience and protection tailored specifically to their individual risk profile.
Peter Marcus, Entain group operations director, said: “We’re using our technology, leveraging our data and behavioural science, to deliver a fundamental shift in customer care.
“The real innovation is to apply hyper-personalisation, to customer protection – using insight into the individual behaviours of customers to manage their exposure to risk in real time.”
The introduction of the new potential risk indicators is based on the advice of world-leading academics and gambling support groups provided in scientific workshops held earlier this year.
Notable academics involved in the initiative includes Dr Michael Aeur of the Gambling Research Centre at the University of Hohenheim in Germany and Dr Mark Griffiths, a professor of Behavioural Addiction And Psychology.
In addition to the advice gained from the scientific workshops, Entain intends to seek input from the Harvard Medical School Facultury’s Division on Addiction, which has been collaborating with the firm on a multi-year research project.
ARC will be first launched in the UK in the summer across all of Entain’s brands, following further development of the initiative and assessment of data from the new models, with plans for an international roll out later in the year.
